AFP, Ramallah :The parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation convenes for the first time in decades Monday, as ageing President Mahmud Abbas seeks to strengthen his hand ahead of ..." />

30th-Apr-2018

Palestinian congress to convene as Abbas seeks to strengthen hand

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AFP, Ramallah :The parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation convenes for the first time in decades Monday, as ageing President Mahmud Abbas seeks to strengthen his hand ahead of the US embassy move to Jerusalem.Analysts said the three-day meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in the West Bank city of Ramallah is unlikely to produce major policy shifts, but it will elect the 18 members of the PLO's executive committee that effectively forms Abbas's cabinet.More than 100 of the 740-member body will be absent, including dozens allied to Islamists Hamas-the largest Palestinian party behind Abbas's Fatah-who have signed a letter opposing the meeting.On Saturday Hamas called on Abbas to postpone the assembly until unity was reached between rival factions.The meeting comes as relations between Abbas and US President Donald Trump's administration have broken down ahead of the controversial relocation of the US embassy, which is set to open in the divided holy city of Jerusalem on May 14.In Hamas-run Gaza, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March 30. The PNC has not held a regular session since 1996, and last held an special session in 2009.The session is expected to begin Monday night with a lengthy speech from Abbas in which the 82-year-old is likely to address the embassy move, among other topics.His rhetoric has become more agitated as relations with the US have worsened since Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.That move broke with a decades-old international consensus that the holy city's status should only be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.Palestinians see annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.In March, Abbas called US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, a Trump appointee and long-time supporter of Israeli settlements, a "son of a dog".His position is weakened by the ongoing split with Hamas, which rules Gaza, after a reconciliation deal collapsed.Analysts say Abbas, elected to a four-year term in 2005, is seeking to further centralise power within the institutions he controls.Hugh Lovatt, a regional expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said he expected the meeting to "mark a further milestone in Abbas's consolidation of power and marginalisation of political rivals".The names selected for the executive committee will be seen as a key indicator of who is in favour in moderate Palestinian politics, Lovatt added, and even "provide an indicator of frontrunners in the race to succeed Abbas".